Bobbin for wire weaving looms



J. .y Lm@ www? BOBB'IN FOR WIRE 'VEVNG LOOHS mg Z2, 3.9.39.-

Fild pril ll, 1938 Patented Aug. 22, 1939 PATENT OFFICE BOBBIN FOB. WIRE WEAVIINTG LOOMS John r. Lacks, Dixon.' m.,'mignor u Reynolds Wire o., Dixon, lll., a corporation of Illinois Application A'prn 1i, 193s; semi No. 201,36;

, 1 claim.

An object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive bobbin particularly adapted for wire weaving looms to vreplace the steel bobbins now in use therewith.

A further object is to provide a bobbin which can be efficiently operated and which will eliminate many of the problems and disadvantages inherent in the usual steel bobbin consisting of a hub with dished anges at its ends.

Anotherobject is'to provide a bobbin-which eliminates dishing of the flanges made possible by the use of Dow metal to form the bobbin, which metal compared to steel is less than one-fourth as heavy as steel and accordingly, though having a modulus of elasticity much less than steel, Lcan be made thicker in the flanges of the bobbin than a steel bobbin to secure the desired strength and yet effect a satisfactory saving in weight of at least 60% over steel bobbins, such saving making `it possible to provide a satisfactory operating bobbin even when the bobbin is wound with a much greater amount of wire.

Still a further object is to provide a bobbin which eliminates snarling of the wire as it isrun oif the loom during weaving operation and which accordingiyrequires fewer setting operations of theA loom by the operator and enables him to take vcare of a greater number of looms without wast@- ing wire and time. Still another object is to provide-a bobbin which can be readily carried by the shuttle arms of a wire loom mechanism as easily as a steel bobbin and can at the same time have more wire thereon, thus making it possible to weave a greater length of wire cloth with one bobbin filling than is possible with steel bobbins.-

With these and other objects in View, my i'nvention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my bob- 40 bin, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forthfpointed out in my claim and illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Although the invention is susceptible of a variety of embodiments, it is unnecessary tp fully describe and illustratel more than lone in order to give a full understanding of the inventionboth from itsstructural and functional standpoints. Accordingly, I have illlustrated a preferred and desirable embodiment 5 in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of a bobbin embodying my invention and showing the bobbin approximately full I Figure 213s a front elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line .3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line #-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view on an 5 enlarged scale showing the comparison in size and shape between my bobbin and steel bobbin of the usual construction, the steel bbin being shown by dash lines.

On the accompanying drawing I have used -1'0 the reference character B to indicate generally my bobbin. The bobbin B comprises a hub I0 and al pair of flanges ,I 2. The hub and the flanges are formed integrally of one material as shown in Figure 3, and such material is preferably'Dow 15 l metal'or the like. The hub I0 is provided'with the usual bore I3 and openings Il. A bobbinv as disclosed, when made of Dow metal, can be readily die cast with the bore I3 and the openings I4 cast therein. Holes are provided to receive the inner and outer ends of the wire to be wound on the bobbin'. Such holes are indicated at I5v in the hub l0 and at I6 in one of the flanges I2.

The flange I2 adjacent the hub I0 as indicated by the dimension line I1 in Figure 3 -is consid- 25 erably thicker than at the dimension lineA I8.

It is possible to cast the bobbin in this manner and the we ight of the bobbin may thus be reduced to a minimum, since there is less strain because there is'less wire pressing against the flange at I8 30 than there is at I1. Accordingly the thickness of thek periphery of the flange can be reduced without detrimentally sacrificing the strength of the flange required to support the flange against bendingwhen wound with wire. 35

In Figure 5 I have shown a comparison between my bobbin and 'a bobbin B' of the usual steel construction. The bobbin B' has Ma hub Ilia and flanges I2a. The flanges I2a are usually made of sheet steel of a predetermined thickness 40 throughout and riveted on the`ends of the" hub Ilia. To effectively resist bending, these flanges or throwing away the remaining part on the u.,

bobbin. Obviously this is expensive and in actual practice I have found that there is a high percentage of such unsatisfactory operation of the steel bobbin as compared to almost 100% satisfactory operation of my bobbin. l

Eiorts have been made over a period of many years to develop a straight-sided bobbin as it was realized that the dished flange of the steel bobbin was entirely unsatisfactory. Making a bobbin with straight sides, as I have done, out of steel resulted in the bobbins being much too heavy and if they were made of aluminum the expense was too great. Also aluminum is lacking in endurance whereas Dow metal has almost the same durability as steel and I have found in practice that having a Dow metal bobbin With straight sides produces less Wear Ithan a steel bobbin with dished sides, due to wear between the wire and the flange of the steel bobbin caused by the Wedge-like space in which the wire is wound.

The bobbins of wire weaving looms are used for feeding the ller or weft wire in the weaving of the cloth. These bobbins are caused to traverse the warp in the shed of the loom by means of shuttle arms which extend alternately into the shed, the bobbin being first picked up and carried by one arm and then by the other. holding devices on the ends of the arms must receive the bobbin and the arm must support the weight of the bobbin during its movement through the shed. Obviously, therefore, since the shuttle arms and their associated operating mechanism are designed for a certain weight of steel bobbin, it is necessary to keep within this weight and I have found that this is made possible by the use of Dow metal which has a specific gravity of 1.8 as compared to steel of 7.9. This makes their relative weights- Dow metal 1.0'and steel 4.4. The relative strength of the two materials Where equal thickness of metal is used, are Dow metal and steel 100. It is evident therefore that increasing the thickness of the ange as shown in Figure 5 of my bobbin B relative to the steel bobbin B', gives me the same or greater strength yet due to the great diiference in weight of 4.4 to 1, I produce a bobbin which is lighter.

As to the modulusof elasticity of Dow metal and steel, Dow metal resists 6,500,000 pounds to the square inch While steel resists 29,000,000

pounds to the square inch. This is a relative resistance of 4.46. However, with a lower modulus of elasticity, Dow metal will deect more than steel of the same size. Accordingly with a relatively small adjustment of the cross sectional size of the iiange I2 in my bobbin, I secure the desired stiffness and strength and yet secure satisfactory savings in weight in the neighborhood of 60%. It is therefore evident that the use of Dow metal or equivalent material makes it possible for me to provide a straight sided bobbin having the desirable characteristics set forth.

Since my bobbin is 60% lighter in Weight, I have found that it is possible to increase the distance between the flanges I2 as compared to the anges I2a of the steel-bobbin as illustrated in The.

Figure 5. This considerably increases the capacityand in actual practice I have* found that the bobbin will work satisfactorily when lled with Wire, whereas it was necessary to not ll the steel bobbin more than two-thirds full to get anything like satisfactory operation. A straight sided bobbin holds more Wire than the same diameter dish sided bobbin and eliminates all snarling or roping due to turning over of the wire when filling and emptying the bobbin. By the elimination of snarling, less attention is necessary to the bobbin spring tension in weaving and the bobbin can be operated at higher speed due to its light weight and lack of snarls. This is a considerable improvement in the art of ne wire weaving on a reciprocating shuttle arm type of loom. A superior grade of cloth is made due to reduced sets and breaksin the cloth.

Uniform width of the cloth can be secured also due to the possibility of reducing bobbin tension and yet securing satisfactory operation. Actually my Dow metal bobbin will carry nearly double the amount of wire as compared to the steel bobbin with greater variation of tension on the shuttle spring being possible Without causing trouble. This makes it possible for aweaver to operate a greater number of looms by 35 to 50%` over the limit with the old steel bobbin. As each bobbin, on account of its larger size can hold a larger volume of wire, less operators are needed in the bobbin winding department. As to Aactual cost, after the first die cost is taken care of, Dow metal bobbins can be made for 40% of the cost for steel bobbins. This makes the initial cost and replacement and consequently the cost of producing the wire much less than where steel bobbins are used. In practice, due to the superior operation lof the Dow metal bobbins, I have found they will outwear the steel bobbins.

From the foregoing it is obvious that I have v provided a bobbin which has many advantages over the steel type and which can'at the same time be inexpensively manufactured and replaced.

Some changes may be made in thematerial, construction and arrangement of the component parts of my bobbin without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention. I therefore intend to cover by my claim such modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents as may be reasonably included within its scope.

I claim as my invention:

In a bobbin for Wire looms, a hub having parallel ends and a pair of spaced flanges, said anges having their inner faces substantially parallel with relation to each other, said flanges being thicker adjacent the hub than adjacent their peripheries, said hubs and said flanges being die-cast integrally and said hub having a bore and an annular series of openings therein surrounding the bore and extending from end to end of said hub, the material of said hub between said openings also extending from end to end of said hub.

I JOHN P. LACKS. 

